


Teen Boys and Guns

by Anica



Series: Hanni-verse [32]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Bit of Hurt/Lots of Comfort, Corporal Punishment, Cuddling, Did I Make it Clear Enough?, Established Relationship, Guns, Guns are Bad Mmkay, Lots of Hugs and Fluff, M/M, Of a Teen, Parental Discipline, Post Mpreg, Spanking, Teen!Hanni, future!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 10:03:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1775128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anica/pseuds/Anica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story for Abigail who wrote: I would love to see a little ficlet about Hanni going through those stubborn teenage years, him doing something he should not and maybe Hannibal or Will spanking him for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teen Boys and Guns

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to TayoAnn who isn't making the stories a lot easier to read, but is responsible for improving my English. 
> 
> As for the subject, leave the pitchforks at the door!

Will Graham paused in the doorway to the family room. His thirteen year old son, Hanni, or Junior to his friends, spoke with clear excitement with his best friend, Duncan. They were watching an action movie because it was a Saturday afternoon and the teen couldn’t go a weekend without guns, explosions, and unrealistic fight scenes.

“Boys, you’re too close to the TV,” Will told them, shaking his head at the glare his son shot him.

“Dad,” Hanni managed to shove all his frustration into that one word, while he and his friend got off the floor and went to take a seat on the couch. The look he gave Will was a very unsubtle demand for the older man not to embarrass him any further in front of company.

“Where are your glasses?” Will asked instead of honoring his son’s wishes to be left alone.

Hanni groaned and grabbed the pair from the coffee table. He slipped them on and went back to glaring at his father.

“Isn’t that better?” Will grinned as he watched his son cross his arms and slouch on the couch. He shook his head and chuckled as he walked away.

His son was a good kid, but the teenage years were now upon them, and Will had hoped that his little boy would stay immune to the drama that tended to accompany puberty. Still, Will considered himself lucky. Except for the dirty looks and the occasional fit when he couldn’t get his way, his son was still the sweet, lovable, and affectionate kid he had always been. He even still called Will ‘Daddy’ if there weren’t too many people around.

Will took a seat in the room that had served as his office for the past decade or so. Every once in a while, he was known to bring a case home and neither father wanted the young boy to stumbling onto a crime scene photo. He groaned when he realized that the papers he had planned to grade had been forgotten at the academy. He let himself curse loudly since the TV would drown out the words. Not that he didn’t think the boy knew every single one of them.

He called his husband to make sure he was on his way home before sticking his head back into the family room.

“I forgot something in the office, kiddo. Papa will be home in about half an hour. Think you can behave?” Will asked.

“That’s not nearly enough time for me to cause any _real_ damage,” Hanni told him, with a grin that Will was positive had not been inherited from his side of the family even if the boy did generally have his smile.

“Since Papa would be the one that had to clean it up,” Will said with a wink, “give it a good go.”

He chuckled as he left the room and so did they. He was positive the two teens weren’t even capable of more trouble than a messy kitchen.

*/*

“That was so awesome,” Hanni bounced on the couch as the protagonist on the screen made a near impossible shot.

“Ah, I’d kill for a gun,” Duncan said, giving a frustrated groan.

“You probably shouldn’t put that on the application when you’re applying,” Hanni told him while he laughed.

“Shut up,” the other boy swung a pillow at him. “I know that. Besides, it’s like five years before we can even get a license.” 

“Four and a half,” Hanni corrected, as he threw the pillow back.

“It’s so unfair. I haven’t even held one. You’re so lucky!” Duncan slouched in his seat, toying with the pillow in his lap. “I wish my dad worked for the FBI.”

“He only helps them sometimes, and it’s not like he lets me touch it. He let me hold it like once, but it wasn’t even loaded,” Hanni told him, with clear disappointment and frustration. “Like I would pull the trigger or something.”

“Where does he keep it?” Duncan asked, quickly sitting up.

“In his office,” Hanni replied, giving his friend a humorless look. “Don’t say you want to see it. It’s in a safe and if we ask him, he’ll say no, and we’ll have to listen to a lecture on weapons. Please don’t make me listen to his lecture on weapons. Again.”

“Well, he isn’t here,” Duncan grinned at him as he pointed out the obvious. 

“No,” Hanni shook his head. “You’re an idiot.”

“Aw, come on,” Duncan jumped up and pulled on Hanni’s arm until the teen was on his feet. “Don’t be such a baby, Junior! He’ll never know.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll give you that but it’s in a safe,” Hanni said, speaking slowly as if his friend was slightly challenged.

“It’s probably your birthday or your dog’s name,” Duncan said. After another tug on the arm, Hanni stood up. “I bet we can figure it out.”

“This is a bad idea,” Hanni said but he was grinning. The idea of getting to hold his father’s gun was too tempting to pass up. He glanced at his watch. They had fifteen minutes to try to break into the safe before his papa came home. “I’m blaming you for all of this if we get caught.”

“Not if it’s Dr. Lecter,” Duncan said, as his eyes went wide. “You’re on your own there.”

“ _Especially_ if it’s Papa,” Hanni told him, and laughed at his friend’s expression. His Papa had a bad reputation among his friends because he seldom smiled in public and always looked like he disapproved of whatever activities the boys were up to. Hanni told them that wasn’t what he was like at all but they refused to believe it without proof. In fact, if Hanni had to choose, he would have prefered to be caught by Papa instead of Daddy. 

“This is a very bad idea,” Hanni said as he opened the door to his dad’s office. Even being in the room without permission left him feeling uneasy.

“Do you want to forget it?” Duncan asked, giving his friend a way out since it really hadn’t been his intention to force Hanni to do anything he didn’t want to do.

“No, it’s fine,” Hanni said. He opened the top drawer of the desk and took out the locked box. He was having second thoughts but in the face of his friend’s uncertainty, he wanted to appear calm and fearless. “Besides I think I should know what it is in case of an emergency. So… my birthday?”

“That’s what they say on TV and TV is never wrong,” Duncan said, laughing. “Let me get this straight. You think someone is going to break in, and you’re going to save the day?”

Hanni shot him a dirty look as he entered his birthday and was disappointed on more than one level when the red light came on.

“Bet it’s their anniversary,” Hanni said, and punched that in but got another red light.

“He probably spelled something out like your dog’s name. Try Darcy.”

“It would have been Winston,” the curly haired teen said and put in the name of his first dog. Still red. “Maybe it’s Hannibal”

“It is not.” Hannibal’s voice coming from the doorway made both boys freeze.

“I … um....” Anything Hanni planned to say disappeared when he saw his father’s face.

“Yes?” Hannibal asked, giving the boy a moment to elaborate. He was curious to see what explanation his son could possibly come up with.

“Sorry,” Hanni managed to get out, though his voice went up in the end and made it sound like a question. He cringed just from the sound of it.

“Duncan, will you be needing a ride home?” Hannibal asked politely, his voice betraying nothing to Hanni’s friend but his namesake knew better.

“No, Dr. Lecter, sorry,” Duncan said, and ducked his head as soon as he met the man’s gaze. He only lived a few blocks away and was grateful that he had been given such a clean opening to leave. He thought about asking the man if he was going to call his mother but thought better of it. He sent Hanni an apologetic look, let himself out the room, and quickly made his way to the front door.

“I didn’t open it,” Hanni said, thinking maybe that was his best defense.

“But you had every intention to,” Hannibal said just to clarify what happened. “Isn't that right?”

“I just…” Hanni trailed off and a heavy silence filled the room once more. The boy was unable to meet his father’s eyes, and the father refused to look anywhere else.

“I’m waiting for an answer,” Hannibal reminded him after the moments of silence dragged on into a minute.

“I’m really sorry, Papa,” Hanni finally told him as he looked up with a clearly pained expression.

“We can get to that later. You know better than to disregard what I’ve asked,” Hannibal spoke with a carefully measured tone that the boy was not familiar with. He was not at all interested in apologies or the tears that had started to form.

Hannibal had detested the crude weapon that hung at Will’s hip and everything it had come to represent. Keeping it in the house had only been allowed because of the safe. They had kept it out of Hanni’s view for as long as possible, and had a proper talk with him when he finally noticed it after Will forgot to cover it one night. News about children dying because of poorly secured weapons often flashed across the doctor’s screen, and he made a point of ignoring such stories.

He never imagined his own son would not only try to get his hands on it without supervision but would break boundaries and trust in the process.

“I wanted to see it,” Hanni finally said, voice just above a whisper as his gaze dropped once more.

“Once it was open, what were your intentions?” Hannibal asked, closing the distance between them in just a few steps.

Hanni shrugged and tried to move back, but Hannibal caught his elbow and pulled him a step closer instead.

“That’s not going to do, young man. I need an answer. What would you have done if you had succeeded in opening it?”

“I wasn’t going to shoot it,” Hanni insisted with _almost_ complete certainty. He might have wanted to pull the trigger but only if he was sure it was empty. It wasn’t like he had expected to get away with discharging a live round in the house.

“I am not asking you what you were not planning to it with it,” Hannibal pointed out, voice sharper than before as he moved closer into the boy’s personal space. He hadn’t imagined the boy would run off to fight crime, but he needed to know how far his son had intended to go, though he doubted the answer would put him at ease. Anything could have happened, and that was the part that made it hard to keep his hands from shaking while his blood ran cold. “What would have happened if you had opened the safe? What would have happened had I not come in?”

Hanni took a step back, biting his lower lip. He hated seeing his father so upset with him. Papa was always the calm one, with a sharp but steady tone, one that seemed to waver at that moment. He could have tried placing the blame on his friend, but he could never lie to his fathers. Even if he could, he knew that it would be the wrong thing to do to a friend. It had been his decision in the end.

“I just wanted to check it out, and to see how it felt to hold it,” Hanni finally whispered, admitting to as much as he could. “I’m sorry.”

“I am as well,” Hannibal said, voice almost as low as his son’s as he tightened his hold on the boy’s elbow and led him over to the sofa, pausing only to remove his jacket.

Hanni had only really been spanked a few times in his life, but they had always come from Will. It wasn’t that the older man had a problem with physically disciplining his son, even giving the boy a swat a few times when it was called for, but somehow it was always Daddy that caught him doing something dangerous and quite honestly, stupid.

Between that and the fact that he was now a teenager, Hanni was shocked to find himself pulled over his papa’s lap.

He tried to remind his father of the fact that he was too old for such treatment as he gave a half-hearted attempt to pull away, too busy trying to focus on holding back tears from the first swat. It was a lot harder than what he had expected from the always gentle and soft spoken man.

“I wish this maturity was present when the idea first entered your mind. How many times have you been warned not to touch your father’s weapon without permission?” Hannibal asked, and tugged the jeans down to the top of the boy’s thighs before he started to bring his hand down again.

Hanni couldn’t answer. He had nothing to defend his actions. Knowing he had been wrong though didn’t stop him from crying and begging after the first few swats. His daddy was the one had always worked with his hands, causing them to be rough, unlike Papa’s, but he quickly learned that neither that nor his age made him any weaker. The swats left a clear sting through his boxers.

Hannibal had no trouble keeping the teen in place as he writhed. He wasn’t as scrawny as he had been just a few years ago but was still on the small side. His son let out a whimper with every swat and it almost undid him every time.

“Papa, please,” was a soft sob from the boy. It held a touch of distress without any actual fear but it was still heartbreaking to the older man.

“Almost over,” he promised as he let his hand fall a few more times, his soothing voice in contrast to the harsh swats.

It wasn’t much more than a minute from the very start before Hanni was allowed to rise but he would argue it was longer whenever the incident was mentioned years later.

Hannibal helped Hanni up, and readjusted his pants but held him back before his son could collapse against him.

“I need you to listen,” Hannibal told him, holding him tightly by his arms, leaving about a foot of space between them.

Hanni looked quite possibly even more heartbroken at being denied the comfort that he had always relied on than he was about the punishment itself. His father’s expression softened slightly and he took his son’s glasses off gently and tucked them away into his pocket. He used the side of his thumb to dry the wet cheeks as best as he could.

“Your father’s gun is not a toy nor a status symbol. It does not glorify what he does. It is a weapon, only as useful as the person holding it. He carries it for no other reason than to protect himself, as with any weapon, that should be the only reason to possess one,” Hannibal told him, and remembered how it felt when he saw the boys trying to open the safe, how his heart leaped into his throat, and the blood seemed to have been drained. That feeling wasn’t new to him but in the past dozen years only the young boy had inspired such strong emotions of fear in him. “It should not matter if he leaves it on his desk or on the dining room table. You will not touch it. Is that understood?”

“Yes,” Hanni nodded eagerly, tears still streaming down his face. “I’m sorry, Papa.”

Any threats died away on Hannibal’s tongue as he pulled the boy against him, wrapping his arms around his son, and holding on tightly. He either didn’t notice or care as the boy wiped his face against his waistcoat. 

“Don’t tell daddy,” Hanni cried softly against his shoulder, once the tears slowed, and he had calmed a bit. “Please, don’t tell daddy. I’ll never do it again just please don’t tell him.”

Hannibal hushed him gently, rubbing his back. “We will not keep things from your father. We never have and we are not about to start now.”

“Please?” Hanni pleaded, his hold tightening around the older man, hands gripping the material hard enough to stretch and wrinkle it. “He’s going to be so mad.”

“That should have been something that crossed your mind before all of this started,” Hannibal firmly, surprised that the boy would even ask.

“But …” Hanni sniffled softly and turned his face into the crook of his father’s neck. “… he’s going to spank me, isn’t he?”

“No,” Hannibal said, his voice just as firm as before. “That would be cruel and unreasonable. When have you ever known your daddy to be either of those things?”

“Never,” Hanni swallowed tightly. “But this was really bad, huh?”

“It was a break in the trust we have, as well as very dangerous,” Hannibal said with a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” Hanni said, and new tears broke his voice before he could get the words fully out.

“I know, sweet boy,” Hannibal said gently and waited till the tears passed before he tried to pull the boy away. “I want you to go to your room.”

“For how long?” Hanni whimpered and only held on tighter when his father tried to move him.

“At least until dinner.”

Hanni groaned. Dinner was hours away and there would be nothing to do in his bedroom. Hannibal tried to make the boy go to his room again, but he was still sniffling softly into his shirt, and his arms tightened once more. The father sighed and pulled the boy into his lap. He rubbed his son’s back till he calmed and then let him sit there quietly for just a little bit longer.

***

About an hour later, Will returned to a house in a much quieter state than he expected it to be. He made his way into the kitchen, expecting to find his husband there, only to be disappointed by his absence, and pleasantly surprised by the box that sat on the counter.

Hannibal’s therapist lived not far from a shop that had world famous peanut butter and jelly donuts, and every once in a while, Will’s wonderful, sweet husband would make sure to pick some up. Even though the doctor himself didn’t find them appealing, he got them in order to please his boys. It was one of the many things that made him so sweet and wonderful to Will.

The profiler wasted little time getting the box opened and jumped just a bit when he heard someone enter the kitchen, trying his best not look like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He let out a sigh of relief when he glanced over his shoulder and saw that it was only his son. Will’s smile turned mischievous as he turned back to the box. “Did you see what Papa got us? How about we split one? That shouldn’t be enough to spoil our dinner. Is Duncan still here?”

“Daddy?” The boy’s unsure voice made Will’s head snap back in his direction and take in the red swollen eyes for the first time. “I did something really bad.”

“Come here,” Will called him over softly and met the boy halfway, sinking to the floor as Hanni rushed into his arms. “That bad, huh?” Will guessed, by intensity of the hug.

Hanni nodded against his shoulder. “Papa spanked me.”

Will stiffened and pulled back, unable to hide his shock. The fact that it was something his husband had never done before was not at all a cause for concern. It had always been an unspoken agreement that it was a punishment reserved for when the boy pulled dangerous stunts and never the normal adolescent behavior. No matter how tempting it was at times. He was almost afraid to ask the boy what he did, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer.

“What happened?” Will asked, cupping the boy’s face gently.

“I….” the boy shifted uncomfortably, trying to find the courage to tell his father what happened. “I … went into …” Hanni dropped his head, wishing that he had asked Papa to be the one to tell Dad.

“Go on,” Will encouraged, though a part of him didn’t want to know. His son might have hesitated telling the truth a few times, but he had never looked as uncertain as he did at that moment. “No matter what it is, it’s going to be okay, do you understand?”

Hanni nodded, before taking a deep breath and looking at his father. “I tried to open your gun safe,” he managed to get the words to rush out. He winced when his father jerked away, clearly in shock, and stood up.

“You what?” Will asked, voice rising. He was mess of emotions, quickly jumping from anger, to fear, disbelief, and confusion. “What were you thinking? What were you planning to do with it, Hannibal? We spoke about guns! Why would you do this?” 

“I’m sorry,” Hanni whined softly, on the verge of tears once more. “I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry? That’s just-” Will cut himself off with a shake of his head. “Oh, you’re lucky Papa-” he cut himself off again, and spun around while gritting his teeth together in order to stop himself from snapping. He was torn between shaking the boy and just hugging him and never letting go. He was starting to lean towards the shaking when an image of his boy holding the gun flashed before his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be in your room?”

Hanni nodded guiltily as he looked at the floor. He had snuck out to see his father, needing to come clean about what happened up until the moment he had actually seen the man, and lost his courage. 

“Then maybe it’s best you go back up there,” Will told him, softer than before, but still clearly upset. “I’ll be up later.”

Hanni nodded again, turned to go but paused and looked back up at his father. “I’m really sorry, Daddy.”

“I know,” Will told him softly, believing in the boy’s sincerity but in no way feeling eased by it.

***

“You should have called me,” Will said, anger giving his voice an edge as entered his husband’s office.

“Hmm?” Hannibal seemed to be coming out of daze as he looked up at the younger man, taking a moment to let the words register. “Oh, yes. I thought it would be best to wait until you got home. I hate the idea of you driving when you’re upset.”

“I can handle it just fine,” Will said, still irritated with the older man but it was quickly fading as he saw the open concern on the other’s face. “What is it?”

Hannibal pulled his lower lip between his teeth and tapped his planner a few times with his pen before he set it aside. “I’m concerned that I might have been too hasty when I disciplined him.”

“Did you use your belt or something?” Will asked, eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the man.

“No, don’t be ridiculous,” Hannibal frowned. “I should have taken the time to calm down. I was still very much upset when I punished him.”

“Think you were too harsh?”

“No, I don’t believe so,” Hannibal said, relaxing back in his chair, head rolling back. “But I have been so careful to teach him that things should be solved with a clear head. The fact I let this happen while I was still upset is unacceptable.”

“You weren’t upset,” Will told him softly as he came over to sit on the doctor’s desk.

“Is that what your empathy is telling you?” Hannibal asked, eyebrow slightly raised.

“No, nothing to do with my empathy actually. Remember when we took the yacht out that first year? When he snuck out of bed to hide from us while we were out at sea one night because he thought it would be funny?”

“I do,” Hannibal nodded. It was the first time since watching his sister be taken away that he had felt such all-consuming fear and helplessness. They thought that the tyke had fallen overboard and Hannibal had been trying to reach the coastguards when Will found the laughing five year old hiding in a cabinet. Will had ended up giving the boy his first spanking, and it was weeks before the boy could be out of sight without both men being washed over with dread and fear.

“How about the time he tried going out of the window?”

“He was trying to pretend he was Spiderman.”

“Batman,” Will corrected. He could still remember how his heart had raced when he glanced out of the library’s window to see the sheets hanging down. He had raced up the stairs, taking them three at a time, just in time to catch the seven year old boy as he went over the side.

“He was almost as upset about losing his capes for those two weeks as he was about the spanking you gave him.”

“Yeah,” Will nodded, rubbing the heel of his hand against his eyes. “My point is, I might not have waited, but I didn’t do it because I was upset. I was scared. God, I was so terrified. Maybe it’s not better, but there is a difference. I don’t need the empathy to know that’s what you felt when you saw him.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Hannibal conceded, resting his hand on his husband’s knee. “Though I prefer there is no future event to test this theory and examine it further.”

Half a dozen retorts stilled on Will’s tongue as he nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

***

Hanni hadn’t felt like doing anything once he was in his room. His father hadn’t taken his phone, but he knew he shouldn’t be using it. He felt almost overwhelmed by the knowledge that he let his fathers down. He may have been a regular, bratty, teen with a bit of an attitude every once in a while, but he loved both men and hated the idea that he had disappointed them.

Between that and Papa’s punishment that had left him sore for a good fifteen minutes afterwards, he would never dream of even going into his dad’s office without permission again.

Although he might have been in the beginning stages of manhood, when Will and Hannibal entered the room they saw nothing but an upset little boy, wishing he could undo what had been done. The feeling was mutual.

They sat on his bed, leaving enough room for him to sit between them, and called him over.

“You know I love very much,” Hannibal said, reaching into the pocket of his waistcoat and pulling out the glasses he had removed earlier. He slipped them onto the boy’s face. “We both do.”

Hanni’s face scrunched a bit because nothing of the contrary ever crossed his mind. “I know, Papa. I love you both too,” he said, before his eyes dropped. “I’m really sorry about today.”

“We know, buddy,” Will said, throwing his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Just help us understand what you were thinking.”

“I don’t know,” Hanni hated to admit. “We just wanted to hold it.” The boy shrugged. “Duncan had never held a gun before and we just wanted to mess around a bit,” Hanni said, eyes down in his lap as he started to play with the corners of his sleeves. “We weren’t going to take it.”

“Do you know how to tell if it’s loaded?” Will asked, tilting the boy’s face up and in his direction with a gentle touch to his chin. “Can you tell when there’s one in the chamber? How about the safety? Do you know how to make sure that was on?”

Hanni paled just a bit, eyes going wide as his mouth opened and closed. He dropped his head again and shook it. “I just thought… that it would be safe.”

“It is,” Will said, and some of the anger that he had thought had settled, quickly returned. “When it’s locked up, it’s safe. Not in your hands!”

Hanni felt movement behind him but didn’t see how Hannibal touched his husband’s shoulder, trying to ground the anger. The younger man closed his eyes, banished the images of the worst case scenarios, as well the tragic scene he had come upon once while he was an officer that involved a pair of young siblings. He did his best to calm.

“This isn’t something we should have to lecture you about,” Will told him, letting his arm drop. “You know what you did is wrong. You know why it was wrong, right?”

Hanni nodded miserably. “Duncan and I could have gotten hurt.”

“You could have hurt someone else as well. If it discharged, it could have easily gone through the window and hit someone on the street,” Hannibal said, voice low and even. “Very often it’s not the person handling the weapon who gets hurt, and you don’t have to be the one who gets injured for it to devastate the rest of your life.”

“I didn’t mean…” Hanni rubbed away tears that had started to form and went quiet. 

“You also broke our trust and that’s something we’re going to have to work on,” Will said, finding the words to get out. He wanted to trust his boy. “I know Papa punished you, and usually I would think that would be enough, but I think the circumstance might call for a bit more.”

“You’re not going to spank me, are you?” Hanni asked, head snapping up to look at his dad.

“No,” Will huffed, a glimpse of smile flickered over his face for just a second and then it was gone. “But you are grounded for a month. I’ll be taking you to the gun range to-”

“No, I don’t want to,” Hanni said as he shook his head.

Hannibal smiled behind him and ran a gentle hand through his hair. “You need to know proper gun safety even if you have no plans to ever touch a gun again.”

“This is not up for a debate. Don’t think this is a reward of any kind,” Will told him sternly, with a pointed finger. “Do I even have to tell you what’s going to happen if you pull a stunt like this again?”

Hanni shook his head again, hard, causing the curls to fly and for his papa to reach out and brush them into place once more.

“That was a very stupid thing to do, kiddo,” Will told his son softly, as he leaned over and kissed the boy’s cheek. “I love you. Nothing you can ever do will change that.” He tapped the boy’s nose as he narrowed his eyes. “That isn’t a challenge.” 

Hanni glanced at the clock as both men got up to leave, and grabbed on to Papa’s hand.

“Can I help make dinner?” Hanni asked, eager to be set free from the confines of his room.

“Not this time, sweet boy,” Hannibal told him gently, cupping his chin and tilting it up so he could drop a kiss on his forehead.

***

“Did you brush your teeth?” Hannibal asked the teen as he poked his head into the room.

“Yes,” Hanni groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t,” Hannibal quickly warned him as he came closer. “What’s wrong?”

Hanni shrugged as he pulled his knees up to his chest. “I’m not tired at all. I don’t want to go to sleep.”

“It’s your regular bedtime,” Hannibal reminded him, which was over an hour later than it usually was on a school night.

“Yeah, but I’ve been doing nothing but sitting here all day,” the boy whined.

“I think you had a pretty exciting day.”

Hanni pouted up at him, lower lip hanging low in a look he had only perfected in the years since childhood. It was a look that Hannibal had always been more immune to than his spouse, but after the day’s events, he felt something tighten in his chest.

He sat by the boy and gave him a head nod in the direction of the bookcase. “Get me a book.”

“I’m too old for bedtime stories,” Hanni said, still pouting.

“Go on, before I change my mind,” Hannibal told him instead of reminding him how just a few months ago, when Hanni had been sick, Hannibal had stayed home and read to him for hours.

Hanni got up and went to find a book. It wasn’t what he wanted, but knew it was probably more than he deserved after everything that happened. As his eyes landed on a book of European fairy tales, the teen couldn’t help get a little excited, and he was suddenly very eager to crawl back into bed and hand the book over to his father.

Hannibal sat against the headboard, and let the boy snuggle up under his arm as he crossed his socked feet over the blanket. That was how Will found them not too long after, and even though there was plenty of room on the boy’s queen size bed, he got as close as he could to the pair. The teen laid between them, listening intently to the stories, aware how much he was loved but completely oblivious to the comfort his presence provided to the two men. 

It took a lot less time for Hanni to fall asleep than any of them would have thought. It had, after all, been a trying day for all three of them. The fathers took their time, watching the boy sleep for a bit before making sure he was tucked in properly and leaving with one final kiss.

“We could have lost him today,” Will said, body going slack as he leaned against his bedroom door.

“We wouldn’t have,” Hannibal said, trying to ease his husband’s worry with a gentle touch and a bit humor. “No one in their right mind would think the password to the safe was ‘cannibal’.”

Will’s shoulders shook a little as he chuckled and leaned forward to rest his head against his husband’s shoulder. “Our boy is okay.”

“Our boy will be just fine,” Hannibal said, both men doing their best to reassure themselves as well as each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise that my gun is out of reach of kids. Because there has never been a kid in my apartment. Ever. Once there is one, I'll take it out of the night stand. 
> 
> I love all your comments, so I definitely would love to hear back.


End file.
